Summary

The article discusses the rise of pseudoscience as a tool used by misogynists to undermine feminism and women's rights.

Abstract

The author of the article points out a disturbing trend where anti-feminist groups are increasingly using pseudoscience to justify their prejudices. This phenomenon is characterized by the misuse of scientific concepts and the spread of unfounded claims, often through social media platforms. The article highlights that this tactic is not new but has intensified, with the author's own experiences of receiving such pseudoscientific arguments in response to their work on feminism. The article emphasizes that pseudoscience has historically been used to support oppressive ideologies, including eugenics and racist policies. It also outlines different forms of pseudoscience, such as misconstrued data, unfounded facts, religious beliefs presented as science, and the misuse of scientific terms. The author suggests that the best way to combat this misogynistic pseudoscience is through facts, ridicule, and social shunning, as well as by providing reality checks and consequences for such beliefs.

Opinions

The author views the use of pseudoscience by anti-feminist trolls as a tactic to mask their hatred towards women with a veneer of intellectualism.
Pseudoscience is seen as a baseless and feelings-driven endeavor that lacks the rigor and factual grounding of true science.
The article suggests that misogynists resort to pseudoscience because real science does not support their biases against women.
The author believes that misogynists use pseudoscience as a security blanket to compensate for their own insecurities and to assert a false sense of superiority.
The article argues that confronting misogynistic pseudoscience effectively involves using facts to debunk false claims, employing ridicule to undermine their arguments, and imposing social consequences to discourage such behavior.
The author reflects on their own past insecurities and how they can lead individuals to cling to pseudoscientific beliefs for a sense of validation.
The article suggests that personal stories, such as those found on the r/exredpill subreddit, can serve as powerful tools for challenging and changing misogynistic attitudes.

The Rise Of Pseudoscience As A Weapon Against Feminism

Did you hear about chimerism or some weird pseudointellectual crap too?

Did anyone else notice how many anti-feminist trolls started to use “science” as a way to explain their hate? I mean, it’s not a new thing, but it’s gotten to a fever pitch in my inbox lately.

Generally speaking, the weird “science facts” include things like this:

Hell, even my X feed has started to have it seep in. To a point, I gotta laugh. Some of the “science” that men have started to spout sounds like stuff I’d say if I took too much of a certain substance.

I mean…what even is that I just posted above? It’s apparently the newest anti-feminist “science” floating around the manosphere. At this point, I just wish those morons would just say they hate women and leave us alone.

When I write about stuff on Medium and Substack, I often get male commenters who genuinely, truly pull shit out of their ass whenever the male gender is criticized.

In many cases, their arguments boil down to, “You’re being irrational and stupid. I’m smart and correcting you,” even when I provide links to studies about my points. Most women I’ve met have experienced this too.

Welcome to the age of misogynistic pseudoscience.

I’ll let you in on a little secret: pseudoscience isn’t science. It’s not based in facts nor does it actually care about facts. Pseudoscience is more about feelings that have some very loose basis in trends rather than statistical fact.

Oh, and it’s been a tool for civil rights horrors since the 19th century. Pseudoscience was the basis for eugenics, racist policies, and more. In fact, Nazi Germany used pseudoscience as the basis for their genocidal acts towards Jews, Roma, and even women who were uninterested in having kids.

Pseudoscience has many different flavors:

Misconstrued data. Correlation does not always denote causation. True science would never stop questioning how something is caused, and would expect solid proof of that.
Unfounded “facts.” Did you hear about how GOP officials are trying to say that birth control pills abort fetuses? Yep. That’s been proven to be patently false. Pseudoscience claims to be factual and scientific, but isn’t actually grounded in facts. This claim is a perfect example of that — and yes, it’s politically bent misogyny.
Beliefs invoving religion as a basis. As much as it pains me to say this, astrology is considered to be a pseudoscience. A more harmful example of pseudoscience is the belief that women are “naturally submissive” because they were born with a uterus and God said so.
Co-opting actual scientific terms to mean something else. If you’ve heard of misogynistic men talking about microchimerism and pair bonding, then you’ve seen this “flavor” of pseudoscience in action.

Why do misogynists do this?

The short answer that would be a quick cop-out is that misogynists will reach for anything that can put women down and make them feel better about themselves. Misogynists often know real science won’t back their beliefs, so they use pseudoscience.

A longer answer is one that I can relate to in a story. Back in middle school and high school, I was an angry little shit. I was not in a good place. I had a rough life, I wasn’t accepted by people, and eventually I would do shit to push people away just to feed into my rage.

One thing that I’ll be upfront about is that I was very insecure, cripplingly so. I was not good-looking back as a preteen. I was not popular. I didn’t have the right clothes, which was a popularity death sentence in my neighborhood. I was also socially awkward.

Looking at myself, I didn’t really have many traits that I could fall back on. The one thing everyone used to say is that I was smart, and “most people don’t like smart people because they make them feel insecure.”

“Smart” is a term that can be used as a cop-out. You don’t have to prove that you’re smart unless you’re at school taking a test. If you’re really digging your heels in hard, then you can simply refute any claims others make by saying, “Well, I’m smarter. I wouldn’t expect your pea brain to get it.”

The term “smart” becomes a security blanket. It becomes the cuddle you need when you realize you have almost nothing else to prop you up. It’s not that much different than the Nice Guy(TM) who keeps saying he’s “so nice, all these stupid bitches hate me.”

The best way to fight pseudoscience is with facts, ridicule, and shunning.

There are very few things that a misogynist hates more than being laughed at, stigmatized, outed to others, and proven wrong. It burns them, especially when they hear that facts don’t care about feelings. (Yes, they co-opt that a lot!)

The truth is that misogyny, just like racism or homophobia, only comes out when the bigot feels it’s socially acceptable. If you give them consequences, be it ridicule or a quick note to their moms, then they will suddenly clam up.

If you keep isolating them and refuse to reward their behavior with inclusion or discourse, they eventually will have to look around them and wonder why no one speaks to them.

A Reddit thread on r/exredpill gave a lot of insights as to what made men leave misogyny behind. It boiled down to:

Realizing the cult-like black-and-white thinking it encouraged. Seeing examples that go against it in reality helped.
Reality checks. In many cases, having MALE friends talk to other men can be that check. If you present female, the reality check often will have to be you leaving them on read and explaining why.
Realizing that being a part of the misogynistic movement they’re in made them feel worse. This is why consequences matter. Sometimes, it takes losing everything you care about to realize something needs to change.

Consequences and stigma matter. Being around people who are in healthy relationships matters. As long as you make it clear that pseudoscience won’t improve their lives, they might get the reality check they need.